After a long day of wearing my Darlton's, my feet were killing me. By the end of the day, I noticed I was trying to think of shortcuts to minimize walking... But, looking fabulous comes at a price. Just ask women!

However, the full length ones can really alter the fit of a shoe. So, today, I was just wearing a small heel insert gel. This works great, but it left the balls of my feet to slowly get pulverized over the the course of the day. But, it's better than nothing. God, what a feeling to throw on a pair of sneakers after work !

Besides gels, how do you handle this? As a drastic measure, I am considering tearing out the leather inner soles of my best shoes, and inserting full size gel inserts to achieve some of the comfort of sneakers and rubber soled dress shoes.Edited by Reevolving - 9/26/11 at 3:21pm

Are you too stupid to understand the topic at hand ?
What part of "cured leather is hard as a stone" is too complicated for you, Forrest?
One day, if you ever buy expensive dress shoes, you too can participate in this thread.

Are you too stupid to understand the topic at hand ?
What part of "cured leather is hard as a stone" is too complicated for you, Forrest?
One day, if you ever buy expensive dress shoes, you too can participate in this thread.

I understand the topic and once again its asinine. If you bought shoes that fit you, you'd realize that, while not sneakers, good dress shoes are comfortable. Of course your dumbass buys double soled darltons and then whines about wearing them (since you are a cheap fuck).

So get your dr. scholls piece of shit and shut up with your fucking stupid threads.

Not since jeromestyles have I seen someone with such a penchant for idiotic threads. Ohh WAAAAAAAAAA, my ray bans have a logo...cover with cloth tape and shut your mouth, clown.

I'm in agreement with mtm. My job keeps me on my feet around 6 to 7 hours a day on vinyl tile and unpadded carpeted surfaces laid directly over concrete. I have a pair of split toe oxford Mezlans that get routinely criticized here if I wear them in a fit but feel better than my New Balance 992's at the end of the day and no, I'm not Steve Jobs.

I even took the Mezlan's on a recent cruise to Italy and wore them exclusively whenever we went ashore for the lengthy walking excursions.

It's hardly asinine, it's a real issue. As a runner, I can totally relate to what Reevolving is talking about. I've been thinking for a while about how to make my leather-soled shoes more comfortable for example, say, when I am at conferences and having to stand up and walk around in them most of the day. There is simply no way that they are as comfortable as even rubber-soled dress shoes, and my doctor is pretty sure wearing leather-soled shoes for 12 hours-a-day for 3 days contributed to a stress fracture that stopped me training and competing for almost two months earlier this year. One answer, of course, is not to wear such fine shoes all the time, the other as Reevolving has indicated, is to find some way of reducing the impact. I have put these German felt liners in two of my pairs of leather-soled shoes, and that seems to have done the trick.

I have put these German felt liners in two of my pairs of leather-soled shoes, and that seems to have done the trick.

Can you post a link to this product? It's not easy looking fabulous. So, I am willing to try different things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyingMonkey

There is simply no way that they are as comfortable as even rubber-soled dress shoes, and my doctor is pretty sure wearing leather-soled shoes for 12 hours-a-day for 3 days contributed to a stress fracture

You'd be amazed to see what delusions some SF'ers can conveince themselves of.... " I paid $800 for these shoes. Why? FOR THE COMFORT !! " You'd have to literally be brain damaged to not understand that rock hard cured leather is much harder than puffy & padded inner soles and thick juicy rubber outer soles....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quadcammer

Of course your dumbass buys double soled darltons and then whines about wearing them (since you are a cheap fuck).
.

It's not that I'm a cheap fuck, it's just that I'm not a dumb fuck.
A cheap fuck doesn't wear $800 English shoes.Edited by Reevolving - 9/26/11 at 5:29pm

It's hardly asinine, it's a real issue. As a runner, I can totally relate to what Reevolving is talking about. I've been thinking for a while about how to make my leather-soled shoes more comfortable for example, say, when I am at conferences and having to stand up and walk around in them most of the day. There is simply no way that they are as comfortable as even rubber-soled dress shoes, and my doctor is pretty sure wearing leather-soled shoes for 12 hours-a-day for 3 days contributed to a stress fracture that stopped me training and competing for almost two months earlier this year. One answer, of course, is not to wear such fine shoes all the time, the other as Reevolving has indicated, is to find some way of reducing the impact. I have put these German felt liners in two of my pairs of leather-soled shoes, and that seems to have done the trick.

you, as a runner, should know that soft is not always the most comfortable nor the best for your feet/body.

The problem as I understand it really comes down to two alternatives: Either your feet are extremely sensitive, due to having worn rubber soled and cushioned insoled shoes for too long, or because of a congenital hypersensitivity;

Or the manufacturers of the shoes you are buying, regardless of price, are cutting costs in selecting the materials used for insoles.

Oh, and there is one other possible reason--the shoes don't fit.

Nothing can be done if the problem is inherent. Allowing your feet to toughen up might help if the problem is having worn cushioned insoles for too long.

Being more selective about the quality of the shoes you buy can go a long way in addressing hard insoles. Good insoles are cut from shoulder or belly. These sections of the hide are long fibered and less dense than outsole. Tannage does have something to do with this as well and some leathers are much firmer than others. Valona (Turkish acorn caps) tannage (Rendenbach) is firmer than pure and natural oak bark tannages (Baker).

Insole should never be "hard as stone." Just because it is tanned will not automatically make it hard.

If insoles are of high enough quality, they will conform to the topography of the plantar surface (bottom) of the foot. A "footbed" will form that ultimately can be far more comfortable than any cushioned insole.

At which point, the nature of the outsole is almost irrelevant unless, again, your feet are hypersensitive.

If the shoes don't fit, the footbed that forms will never be in the proper place to function in sync with the shoe itself.

I have worn leather insoles and leather outsoles 12-16 hours a day for over forty years while on my feet most of the time. I have not experienced the problems you are reciting.

All that said, no leather shoe will feel like sponge rubber. But then, you can't make a quality shoe out of sponge rubber.

DWFII, thanks for your reply. However, it's simply a matter of basic physics. A small child can even understand this, if he allows himself to remove his bias.

First, it's not about the brand. Compare the density & hardness of ANY hard cured leather inside an AE or ANY quality shoe (The shoes in question are $800 C&J Darlton/Marlow's, but apply to ALL high end ($500+) leather soles I own) vs. a fluffy soft sneaker insole (Or a high-tech padded insole of a Johnston & Murphy shoe, which is like walking on air, literally)

Next, if you have veritable rocks under your feet, a minor fit issue does not trump the obvious and blatant difference in materials involved.

Lastly, your molded footbed logic is also moot if what lies underneath the footbed is simply also hard as stone. If I molded my feet in a steel imprint, you're telling me they will be comfortable? That's asinine. There is simply nothing soft about leather dress shoes. They crush your feet after a few hours. Period. That is the price of looking fabulous. Just ask any woman...

As far as hypersensitive feet...no. I don't know a single person who thinks dress shoes are comfortable. There is a damn good reason why 99% of the population doesn't wear formal leather soled dress shoes. (Then again, Math is not exactly a forte of most of SF) The only nutjobs who push this are a handful of delusional mental patients on SF .... ("They are like slippers!")Edited by Reevolving - 9/26/11 at 5:28pm